Chapter 122 - 113: Pain! So Much Pain!

Chapter 122: Chapter 113: Pain! So Much Pain!

Wuliangye was still fine; its stock price remained within a normal range.

Moutai, however, had trapped too many people who bought at previous highs. Once it rose this time, many immediately chose to sell off to break even or cut their losses to recoup some capital. The hard-won slight increase in stock price quickly plummeted again, closing even lower than its morning opening price.

Normally, this wouldn’t matter much. Unless one was day trading, stocks were all about medium-to-long-term returns. But comparisons were always painful. Seeing the few stocks others bought soar steadily while half of one’s own portfolio was dropping was downright depressing.

After all, over 5,000 stocks were rising in the morning. Out of the entire market, only a handful were falling, yet they managed to pick exactly those. What kind of rotten luck was that?

In the afternoon, the entire market took a dip. Those few stocks that were already bleeding dropped even more absurdly. The frustration was instantaneous.

To be blunt, despite their considerable net worth, not all of Li Qiguang’s friends possessed an eye for investing. Their success—aside from personal ability and luck—was largely due to capitalizing on the economic boom of the times.

That was just how society worked. Once you completed the initial accumulation of wealth, your fortune would continue to grow even if you did absolutely nothing and maintained the status quo. The hardest part was always that initial accumulation.

Meanwhile.

Chen Jingle was pondering a question.

"This afternoon’s wave is most likely just an adjustment to shake out the retail investors," he thought. "It should stabilize by tomorrow morning, then continue to push higher in the afternoon. By the third day, large volumes will start entering the market, and favorable news will be continuously released to attract more funds."

Clearly, the market makers behind the scenes had deeper calculations. Their true targets weren’t domestic retail investors at all, but foreign capital. Dongda’s stock market couldn’t simply be analyzed using Western economic theories; political factors had to be considered heavily. Combined with the current backdrop of globalization, one could understand why such a pseudo-bull market was being manufactured.

This was what Chen Jingle theorized, though he wasn’t entirely sure if he was right. Only time would tell. However, that didn’t stop him from writing these thoughts into his article.

"I spent the whole day reading, observing, and analyzing," he thought, standing up to stretch lazily.

Taking advantage of the third period’s free activity time, he did a quick workout and hurried off to cook.

Considering it had rained again in the afternoon and the ground was still wet, he decided on dry-fried green beans and dry-fried shredded beef for dinner.

Green beans were incredibly cheap this season. Folks up in the northern provinces were probably sick of eating them by now, though they still sold for two or three Yuan a pound here in Jiangbei. To Chen Jingle, dry-frying was the best way to prepare them. He bought long green beans, which were known as cowpeas in some regions.

Dry-fried green beans required deep-frying first. He found this step to be quite a hassle, as he genuinely disliked making deep-fried dishes, but green beans simply didn’t taste good without it. Still, compared to the second dish—dry-fried shredded beef—the green beans were relatively simple.

Dry-fried shredded beef was a classic Sichuan dish that demanded a lot of time and effort. It used to be very famous, but hardly anyone made it nowadays. The reason was exactly that: it was too time-consuming and labor-intensive. Modern restaurants prioritized fast serving times, even resorting to pre-packaged meals. Who would be willing to go through all that traditional trouble? Furthermore, the average chef couldn’t execute it well; it required a seasoned veteran. As a result, many restaurants simply removed the dish from their menus entirely.

Chen Jingle figured that if he worked quickly, he should be able to finish cooking before Chen Qiyun got home from school.

For the beef, chuck was the best choice. In a pinch, regular lean beef worked too, as long as it had no fat or tendons. Chen Jingle used lean beef, slicing it to the thickness of a chopstick before soaking it in yellow wine and water to draw out the blood. For the aromatics, he prepared scallions, ginger, garlic, and Chinese celery. The seasonings included broad bean paste, Sichuan peppercorn powder, chili powder, and white sesame seeds.

The difficulty of this dish, in his opinion, lay in its numerous steps and stringent heat control. It required high heat for the entire dry-frying process; a single moment of inattention could ruin the whole plate. Moreover, the order of adding seasonings had to be precise. For instance, if the chili powder was added too early, it would burn, and a burnt flavor would completely alter the dish.

Finally, just before plating, a drizzle of chili oil was needed to elevate the already rich, savory aroma to another level. Even the Sichuan peppercorn powder couldn’t be sprinkled in advance; it had to be added right before eating, otherwise the flavor would diminish.

It was a dish completely obsessed with the details. For something so time-consuming and labor-intensive, it was perfectly normal for average restaurants to avoid making it. Any restaurant bold enough to serve it probably had excellent business.

"Okay, all done!"

Chen Jingle brought the dishes to the table, washed the wok, and took off his apron. In that brief moment, he could already hear Chen Qiyun’s skipping footsteps approaching. He wondered why the little girl was so happy. Did she find money on the road?

He washed his hands and glanced at her as she walked in with a beaming smile. "Why are you so happy?"

Chen Qiyun tossed her backpack onto the mahogany sofa, the corners of her mouth curling up. "Coming home to a hot, delicious meal—isn’t that reason enough?"

Tsk.

That’s the extent of your ambition!

She sniffed the air, catching the aroma wafting from the kitchen. Hmm? Why was there the smell of chili again? And it seemed much spicier than the cold-tossed beef.

Entering the kitchen, she looked at the plate with immediate curiosity. "What’s this?"

"Dry-fried shredded beef," Chen Jingle answered casually, taking bowls and chopsticks out of the sterilizer cabinet.

Before even scooping her rice, Chen Qiyun picked up a shred of beef and popped it into her mouth. After two chews, her eyes lit up. "Mmm! Delicious!!"

It was savory, aromatic, and slightly spicy. The more she chewed, the more fragrant it became. The complex flavors blended perfectly without masking the natural aroma of the beef. It was completely different from yesterday’s cold-tossed beef in both preparation and taste, but equally delicious!

Chen Qiyun hurriedly ran to get a bowl of rice.

From start to finish, Chen Jingle maintained a calm expression. It was just standard procedure, no need to be amazed. He might usually cook Cantonese Cuisine and Lu Cuisine, but if he really wanted to dive into Sichuan dishes, he could master them in minutes. Though both dishes were a bit of a hassle to make, the delicious result made it all worth it!

Time to eat!

Li Beixing’s home.

After dinner, Li Qiguang sat on the sofa as usual, scrolling through his phone to check his stocks.

Li Beixing leaned over and asked, "Dad, how is it? Did the stocks you bought go up?"

Li Qiguang chuckled. "Yeah, a small gain. The market looked pretty good this morning, but it dropped back down in the afternoon."

Li Beixing wanted to say more, but realizing her own limited knowledge, she decided not to show off and hurried upstairs to shower.

Li Qiguang had originally wanted to tell his daughter that he had listened to her and bought Celsius and BYD, but he worried it would pressure her. He simply chose to keep it to himself. Once he made a profit, he could just give her a larger allowance next month or buy her a new car.

"Finally done."

Chen Jingle looked up and rubbed his eyes.

He hadn’t read a book tonight. Instead, he finished the first draft of his article and edited it once. He felt it would easily get accepted by a regular journal, but he was too lazy to submit it right now; he’d just leave it be for a while. Even if it was just a regular journal, he wanted to submit it to one with actual credibility. The type that published anything for money wasn’t worth his time.

Just as he was about to use the bathroom and head to bed, a news flash suddenly popped up on his screen.

"Celsius plans to acquire a 10% equity stake in Peng City Yining, held by Huawei Technology, for 11.5 billion Yuan in cash."

Holy crap!

Chen Jingle’s eyes instantly widened. "It’s already valued at 115 billion?!"

His second thought was: Buy it, buy it, buy it!!

Barring any surprises, Celsius was guaranteed to skyrocket when the market opened tomorrow. Why was he so certain? It wasn’t because he had insider information, but because the blind optimism of amateur investors—as mentioned earlier—would demolish any sense of a rational market.

Everyone knew who backed Celsius. Its domestic brand recognition was national tier. Many older people, if they weren’t buying Apple, were basically all buying this brand’s phones. And it just so happened that the majority of society’s wealth was concentrated in the hands of this middle-aged demographic. Now that the two were further bound together, it was undeniably massive news!

Chen Jingle was absolutely certain that once the market opened tomorrow, a massive influx of capital would swarm in to buy Celsius stock. When that happened, Celsius was bound to soar—hitting the daily limit up was entirely possible.

Yet, he could only watch; he couldn’t jump into the fray. The feeling of watching money slip away right before his eyes... It hurt! It hurt so much!

Why not get involved? Because his principal was too small, and the cost of trial and error was too high. Even if he threw in all his bank savings, it was only 500,000 Yuan. A 30% return would merely be 150,000. But the risk he’d have to shoulder by going all-in completely outweighed the potential 150,000 in profit. Thus, he’d rather sit on the sidelines than risk it all.

"Damn it! If I had three million in cash, I’d go all-in on Celsius right now. It would grow by at least 30% within a week!" he thought, gritting his teeth.

At the end of the day, for the poor, the cost of trial and error regarding anything tied to money was far too steep and required deep deliberation. The wealthy didn’t need to agonize over it. It’s just a few million, right? Toss it in!

This was why the rich got richer, and the poor stayed poor. Relying solely on a salary without any special opportunities made it incredibly difficult to achieve financial freedom.

"11.5 billion for a 10% stake?"

Seeing this news, Li Qiguang was momentarily stunned, followed by wild ecstasy.

He had bought 1.5 million Yuan worth of Celsius just today! Gritting his teeth, he transferred another 3 million into his account, ready to keep buying once the market opened tomorrow.

If anyone asked, he simply believed in industry-leading technology!

Chen Jingle fell asleep with a heavy sigh.

If his system hadn’t been so reliable, he probably would have tossed and turned all night in frustration. How was the system lacking in any way? This system was absolutely perfect!

Waking up the next day, Chen Jingle’s state of mind was perfectly serene. Life went on as usual. He just didn’t want to pay attention to the stock market anymore.

Damn it all. What did it matter if he paid attention? What did it matter if his predictions were perfectly accurate? It didn’t have a single dime to do with him! Watching others strike it rich would cause ripples in even the calmest state of mind. He’d just glance at the market later when he had time and tweak his article.

"I’ll finish Boss Long’s Flowers and Birds Painting first!" he told himself.

That was today’s mission. Chen Jingle didn’t want to drag it out; getting the cash in hand as soon as possible was what truly mattered.

For a Flowers and Birds Painting, the one thing the countryside never lacked was birds. Especially with the promotion of environmental protection in recent years, the bird population had steadily increased. From morning to night, all sorts of birds chirped endlessly—partridges, turtledoves, magpie-robins, and greater coucals, to name a few.

The problem was, what kind of bird should pair with what kind of flower?

Standing by the window, Chen Jingle watched the little birds fluttering about on the branches of the longan tree outside. It was a flock of very common white-eyes. White-eyes were also known as mutual-love birds or silvereyes.

Chen Jingle’s gaze was drawn to two specific white-eyes among them.